Mini_field_farm
Chirping
- Dec 17, 2020
- 22
- 54
- 84
Hi, my Silver Appleyard keeps having problems passing eggs. She has been laying since December and is approximately 10 months old. She started off well and was laying decent sized hard shell eggs every couple of days. Then after a few weeks she laid a couple of soft shell eggs. She now frequently struggles to pass eggs and when she does they are always broken soft shells. She sometimes goes a few weeks without laying any eggs at all, then will lay a couple of "normal" eggs and then the whole thing repeats itself. She is fed a diet of Allen and Page Duck and Goose breeder pellets, has access to oyster shell all the time and enjoys some treats of spinach, lettuce, mealworms and corn in moderation. She has access to a pond, and overnights in a draught free straw lined house. She lives with my drake. I guess my question is what am I doing wrong? I hate seeing her struggle to pass the eggs as she is clearly uncomfortable until it's done and that can take hours. I do wonder if she is overweight? Would that cause the problems I am describing? Also been suggested it could be a vitamin D deficiency, but now the days are getting longer they free range for at least 12 hours a day at the moment, so now doubting this? Also could it be my drake being too enthusiastic in his duties? I am currently building a duck pen in our field to move them into, with a view to getting another couple of girls so he can share his "affections" out a bit more, but I can't do this while they are living in the garden. When she isn't struggling to pass an egg she is very nosey, into everything and regularly legs it across the garden to great the postman so she seems healthy otherwise, and certainly has a good appetite and spends lots of time rooting about looking for snacks or splashing in the pond. I'm really worried that the longer this goes on she will do lasting damage or suffer a prolapse or infection. Any help gratefully received!
